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nizpaz
Joined: 09 Oct 2008
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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 Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 3:17 pm Post subject: SMOE WONT REFUND HOUSING DEPOSIT ADVICE NEEDED |
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So I quit 6 months into my 3rd contract. Until this point I've had a grt relationship with my school and therefore left Korea trusting them to pay what was owed. My school has had a complete regieme change with a new admin guy. I have got my severence but they're claiming I have to pay a month's rent and a break of contract fine even though I believe a new NSET has gone into the apartment.
So my question is, can they really do this, has anyone else had this and fought it? Is this something the labour board would get involved with?
Oh SMOE doesn't want to know. I've been given an email address of a so called teacher at my school who incidently has a western name and who I've never heard of. (Perhaps my replacement sitting comfy in my old apartment???)
Advice would be appreciated. |
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cdninkorea
Joined: 27 Jan 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 3:29 pm Post subject: |
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| So you're not in Korea? Well, I'd call Labor anyway and see if there's anything they can do. |
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Ramen
Joined: 15 Apr 2008
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| Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 3:58 pm Post subject: |
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| So my question is, can they really do this |
Yes, they did. As above poster said, you should contact labor and see what they can do.
Don't leave Korea without all of your money!  |
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pkang0202
Joined: 09 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 4:38 pm Post subject: |
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Contact the new guy and see if you can get the exact date he moved in. If he moved in immediately after you left, then I don't see how you should be penalized for rent.
if he came in 3-4 weeks after, and the place was vacant, then you probably do owe them on a prorated basis. |
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hockeyguy109
Joined: 22 Dec 2008
Location: Daegu
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| Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 5:05 pm Post subject: |
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| They screwed you. Why are school administrators in Korea such jerks? I don't know about your school, but the foreign teacher is treated like a king compared to the horror that the Korean teachers go through. |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 5:55 pm Post subject: Re: SMOE WONT REFUND HOUSING DEPOSIT ADVICE NEEDED |
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| nizpaz wrote: |
So I quit 6 months into my 3rd contract. Until this point I've had a grt relationship with my school and therefore left Korea trusting them to pay what was owed. My school has had a complete regieme change with a new admin guy. I have got my severence but they're claiming I have to pay a month's rent and a break of contract fine even though I believe a new NSET has gone into the apartment.
So my question is, can they really do this, has anyone else had this and fought it? Is this something the labour board would get involved with?
Oh SMOE doesn't want to know. I've been given an email address of a so called teacher at my school who incidently has a western name and who I've never heard of. (Perhaps my replacement sitting comfy in my old apartment???)
Advice would be appreciated. |
It all depends on the contract. What does it say about you leaving early? |
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egrog1717
Joined: 12 Mar 2008
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| Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 6:09 pm Post subject: |
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SMOE contract states:
Employee who is provided with housing shall pay a one-time only security deposit of 500,000 Korean Won. The security deposit will be returned to the Employee at the end of the Contract, less the last month's utilities.
Your contract has ended... Get your money back |
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b-class rambler
Joined: 25 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 7:36 pm Post subject: Re: SMOE WONT REFUND HOUSING DEPOSIT ADVICE NEEDED |
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| nizpaz wrote: |
So I quit 6 months into my 3rd contract. Until this point I've had a grt relationship with my school and therefore left Korea trusting them to pay what was owed. My school has had a complete regieme change with a new admin guy. I have got my severence but they're claiming I have to pay a month's rent and a break of contract fine even though I believe a new NSET has gone into the apartment.
So my question is, can they really do this, has anyone else had this and fought it? Is this something the labour board would get involved with?
Oh SMOE doesn't want to know. I've been given an email address of a so called teacher at my school who incidently has a western name and who I've never heard of. (Perhaps my replacement sitting comfy in my old apartment???)
Advice would be appreciated. |
How much notice did you give them of quitting? The contract requires that you give them 1 month. If you gave 1 month or more, do you still have the letter or e-mail you sent, AND some kind of acknowledgement of its receipt? If you gave them less than 1 month's notice, or they have reason to believe you gave them less than a month, then they're probably on safer ground to penalise you.
The notice given will also affect the accommodation. Yes, they should give you back the deposit less the utilities at the end of the contract (provided you haven't damaged anything of course), but they may claim they HAVE done that.......just that it's the deposit less the utilities AND less a further month's rent. Which would probably equal slightly less than zero.
If you didn't give them sufficient notice, they'd probably be entitled to take a further month's rent as your contract still hadn't legally ended. If you did give them the required notice and have proof that they were aware of your notice, then I reckon you'd be in a strong position to get something else back off them.
It's not necessarily relevant in this case, but something else to bear in mind with PS contracts is that it's the Korean part that is legally binding. There are occasions when the English translation is a little ambiguous and perhaps isn't the best way it could be rendered into English, which might well lead people to assumptions about the contract that aren't necessarily the case. |
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